David Lewis is a woman. At least between 6.50am and midnight. And only on Wednesdays.

He dresses like a man, has a beard like a man, doesn’t mind being called ‘he’ or ‘him’ and is running to become a woman’s officer within the Labour Party.

But before you run away with too many misconceptions, David is not one of these liberals pretending that gender is a social construct, David has self-identified as a woman in order to demonstrate that, in some circles, ticking a box is all you need to ‘change’ your gender.

You see the Labour Party, being the all-inclusive group it is, allows people to determine what gender they are; therefore David, 45, is able to run as a woman. He ticked a box saying he identifies as a woman, and hey presto, he’s a she.

“Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman. Except in the Labour Party, when it’s surprisingly easy. Just ask David Lewis”. https://t.co/cnrK7r4kMT

“I self-identify as a woman on Wednesdays, between 6.50am when my alarm goes off and around midnight when I go to bed.

”My womanness is expressed by my saying ‘I self identify as a woman’ now and again on Wednesdays. I make no changes in my behaviour or my appearance. I keep my name, David and my male pronouns. I wear the same sort of clothes I wear the rest of the week. I keep my beard. I enjoy the full womanness of my beard.”

Got it?

According to Labour’s policy on the matter:

“Labour operates a policy of self-definition: if someone defines themselves as a woman, the party recognises that person as a woman, with no question, verification or scrutiny of that definition. This approach is intended to make the party inclusive and supportive of transwomen, people who were born male and later say they wish to change their gender and be recognised as female.”

Trying to offset the supposed socio-economic benefits of being a man by introducing such measures is certainly done within the spirit of egalitarianism; in short, it’s good to help those who might need it.

But we should of course make sure that such restrictive measures are actually supporting those who need it.

What David has done spectacularly well is show how far these notions can be abused.

A person going through such a momentous change is one thing, but someone simply saying their something is quite another matter.

As David said:

“I completely understand the problems that trans people face and I can see the case for reforming a system that some people find difficult and undignified. But I think we have to have a proper debate where both sides are heard and there are people who raising valid questions who are not being heard. In the end, we need to have a compromise. And a good compromise is one where both sides are equally unhappy.”

You have to feel for the Labour Party; every other hour it appears a story of racism from one of its members appears, if not it’s holocaust denial or anti-semitism. There’s a lot for the party to sort, but it should use David’s story as motivation to drop an infantile and stupid policy which detracts from those it was set up to help.